The Dating Game
by Hanazaki-Ryuuka
Summary: On a rainy day, Niou asks Marui a question, which leads to some serious thinking. No pairings, hints of AkaMaruif you look closely enough. First in the Rikkai one-shots series.


**Title:** The Dating Question

**Summary**: On a rainy day, Niou asks Marui a question, which leads to some serious thinking.

**Rating**: T for language

**Disclaimer:** No, sadly, no.

**A/N:** It's been so long since I last wrote a story, but here it is! Set in high school freshman year and I've adopted the Japanese school schedule, so school start in April. Akaya's still a brat in middle school, so don't expect much from him XD

First in the Rikkai Oneshot series, and hopefully it won't be the last.

* * *

"Bunta, if you were a girl, who would you date out of the six of us?"

Marui Bunta, self-proclaimed genius, swallowed his bubblegum in surprise at Niou's question. The former narrowed his eyes at the latter, then tilted his head, "I've been wondering about this for a while, but Niou, you're _definitely_ gay, aren't you?"

The trickster's facial expressions froze for a minute, then looked around in utter horror at the rest of his teammates' sympathetic eyes, "Hey, now wait, what's with those looks?"

The room was in complete silence. Sanada coughed awkwardly and shifted his hat to cover his eyes. Yagyuu's glasses couldn't cover the smug look in his eyes. Yukimura only smiled approvingly.

"I'M NOT FUCKING GAY!" Niou growled, "It's raining, there's no practice and we're all stuck inside, so I was just merely trying to pass the time. I'M. NOT. GAY."

Marui nodded unconvincingly at his friend; Yanagi had said that Niou was just in a denial phase anyways.

"Let's all give Niou a break, shall we?" And like an angel sent from the heavens above, Yukimura gave the white-haired boy a tiny pat on the back while delivering a stern look to the rest of the team. Niou gave his former captain a gracious look, and made a mental note to bake a cake for Yukimura later. "After all, he must've been up all night trying to think of ways to hint to us that he likes members of the same sex more than the opposite."

That's it. There was going to be a lot of Niou Spit added to Yukimura's cake batter.

* * *

"Who _would_ I date if I were a girl?" Marui pondered out loud over lunch the next day.

Jackal raised an eyebrow at his doubles partner, "You aren't seriously considering this question."

Marui shrugged. May of freshman year in high school was a time away from all troubles. They were already familiarized with the school, and the upcoming test in July is still two months away. Right now, most students are either busily engaged in a romantic relationship or trying to find one.

High school romance wasn't of interest to Marui, or to anyone in the former Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku tennis team. Following their defeat in middle school, the whole team decided that their dream of a three-year straight championship couldn't end, and luckily, high school was just that long.

Right now, all the former members of the middle school team could think of was how to regain their deserved victory, so girls and second bases were of no interest to them.

Unfortunately, May of freshman year in high school without the romance factor was just plain boring.

Marui hated being bored.

"So, reasons said, I believe I will think about this question thoroughly to pass the time." Marui finished with a rather dignified look on his face, only to meet Sanada's disapproving eyes. The sweets-addicted teen quickly cleaned up his lunch spot and stood up before Sanada could yell tarundoru to his face.

"I shall make my decisions during practice today, so try to woe me, bachelors! Until then…!" With a dramatic curtsy and wave of hand, Marui exited the rooftop.

Niou looked around his friends, then stuffed the rest of his sandwich into his mouth, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm not going to be the one to lose. See ya suckers, I'm off to work on my man charms."

Yagyuu readjusted his glasses, "Of course you don't want to lose, since Marui is of the same sex as yo-"

"Shut up before I dress up like you and go around school in a mini skirt."

"_Well_. Manners."

* * *

_Hm, Sanada's pretty attractive to girls, right?_ Sitting under the shade, sipping his sports drink, Marui eyed the man in question. _He's got a nice built, he does well in school, and he's a caring enough person. Oh, and relatively handsome, probably to some. I think I might choose Sa-_

"TARUNDORU! Thirty laps! Now!"

_On second thought, maybe not._

Marui diverted his eyes from Sanada, who was now ordering the rest of the first years into running laps. He's not even the fukubuchou anymore, for god's sake. Then, Marui's eyes drifted slowly towards Yanagi across the court.

_Yanagi's really smart, and he definitely takes good care of people. He's boyfriend material, isn't he?_

And then Marui's eyes landed on Yanagi's little notebook. Yeah, a girl _really_ wants all her private data stuffed into that. Uh-huh.

_ Let's see who else. Yukimura buchou…. Would kill me if I got him involved in this. No, worse, he'd make me read Sanada's poetry. Jackal?_

The self-proclaimed genius turned his head around to look for his doubles partner, and then found him in a little shady corner, trying to gently fend off some stray cats and ended up pulling snacks out of his pocket to feed them.

"Aw, bless him that soft-hearted bald-headed…. Hey, hey wait a minute… that's, that's my back-up snack…! JACKAL!"

Upon hearing Marui's screech, Jackal turned around with a look of guilt in his eyes. Realizing he'd been caught red-handed, Jackal quickly scooped the cats up and ran out of the tennis court before Marui can unleash his anger out on the animals. The last thing he heard from the court was "you're SO out of the running!"

_I'm sticking the next piece of gum in Jackal's hair…..Damn, he's bald. I hope he never grows hair again and stays bald for the rest of his bald life. Baldy._

Scrunching up his face, Marui looked around the court for his next victim, and as his eyes focused, the bothered expression cleared up into a sunshine smile.

_ Ah, Yagyuu! Yagyuu's perfect! He's _such_ a gentleman too. Unlike Jackal. Tch, I'll bet Yagyuu'll never give other people's food away before asking for permission, because Yagyuu's polite like that._

"Excuse me, Masaharu, would you mind giving me back my racket, you son of a bitch, before my hand accidentally slip and break an arm or two of yours? Now, if you please."

Marui gulped and decided that his mom was right; one should never judge based on looks.

Who's next? Marui's eyes looked to the left of Yagyuu, and found Niou with a smirk on his face, "Sorry! Geez, loosen up, will you? You know, bad temper gives you ED, and let's face it; you're already a bit weak sexuall- ow! Ow! Sorry! For fuck's sake let go of my arm! Oh god, I think I heard something crack where it's not supposed to crack!"

Marui quickly moved his eyes away, and decided that taking Niou into consideration, even ever so slightly, was the single most stupid thing he had ever done in his life.

* * *

Practice ended without a decision from Marui, who, by this point, was beginning to feel agitated by his teammates. Seeing them from a girl's point of view made him reconsider how he appealed to the opposite sex, and then it hit him.

Maybe the reason why none of the former Rikkai champion team has a girlfriend isn't that they don't want one; maybe it's because none of them can get one.

"We're going to end up old, shriveled, and lonely." Marui sighed out in the changing room, taking off his sweat-drenched top.

The rest of the team stopped in their tracks, and all eyes were on Marui.

The red-head sighed again, and then noticed the stares, "Niou, stop looking at me like that, while I do respect your sexual preference, I have to point out that I am indeed, straight."

"SO AM I," Niou stuck up a certain finger and shot a glare at Yagyuu, who had to hide his facial expression in his T-shirt, "Now what has gotten into you?"

Marui sighed again, "For the whole of practice today, I've been seriously considering the question of who would I date if I were a girl. After I analyzed each one of you, I realized that if I were a girl and was forced to choose between dating one of you and death, I'd pick the grim reaper without any hesitation. In fact, I'd be _glad_. We, the almighty Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku tennis team, soon-to-be three-year straight national champions, are unappealing to girls. We suck as men. Good tennis players, good friends, bad men. Bad. Very bad."

The room was silent again, before Jackal cleared his throat, "I think that's a bit drastic, Bunta."

"Or is it? And what would you know, at least if you end up old and single, you'll have 70 cats with you." Marui hissed and chewed his bubblegum furiously. Jackal closed his mouth before his friend decided to use the gum as a cannonball and spit it at him.

Sanada cleared his throat, "You're thinking too much about it, Marui. It's just a question for fun."

"Like you'd know much about fun."

Just as Sanada's eyes narrowed, Yanagi and Yagyuu managed to grab one of his arms each, and Yukimura stepped infront of Marui in a rather protective gesture, "Bunta, they're right, you're overreacting. No one's going to end up like that, we're all perfectly fine as men. Well, maybe Niou's a bit different ("NO, I AM NOT."), but we'd all be able to get girlfriends, or boyfriends ("THERE IS NO BOYFRIEND!") if we wanted to. It's just that right now, we're still too focused on the National Championship to do so. Now, calm down, go home, have a good dinner, and sleep early."

Marui sighed again, clearly still distressed. He changed back to his school uniform in slow motion, with the whole team watching him out of the corner of their eyes.

Just as he grabbed his bag out of the locker, a happy melody rang from it. He frowned and pulled out the ringing phone. When he glanced down at the caller ID, the corner of Marui's lips pulled up slightly, "Hello, Akaya?"

"Marui-senpai!" The excited voice of Kirihara Akaya rang through the phone.

"What's up?" The owner of the phone started packing up his bag while tucking the phone between his ear and shoulder, not realizing that the rest of the team was dead silent so they can hear the conversation.

"I got off practice today early, and you know how there's that one first year whose dad owns a bakery? Yeah, he brought a box full of cakes and cinnamon buns and whatever, and I wasn't going to finish it on my own, so I thought I'd bring you some! Are you still at school?"

"Yeah, I'm in the changing room."

"Oh, great! I'm at the high school gates already, and I thought you'd have left. Never mind, do you want me to go in or do you want to go to a park or something?"

Marui's small gesture of angled lip corners now bloomed into a full, wide, ear-to-ear smile, "You wait for me there, and I'll be out in a sec!"

Clicking his phone shut, the happy red-head practically skipped out the door. Seconds later, his head popped back in, smile still intact, "You know what, I'll pick Akaya. I'd date Akaya anyday! And I won't die single! But good luck to you guys!" and with that, he was gone.

Niou's jaws dropped, "Damn drama queen. And like they aren't dating already."

"Niou, don't be jealous, and don't distort ordinary intimate friendship with your dirty, perverted thoughts."

* * *

**A/N**: The ending turned out differently from what I had planned…. No, screw that, the whole story turned out differently orz and longer… this was meant to be a few hundred words originally Q w Q

Everybody loves a gay Niou! And there really is no pairing… maybe hints, maybe. Or maybe you're just like Niou, twisting ordinary intimate friendship with your (ry.

Anyways, R&R please! It's been so long since I've been on FF, I don't even know if they still use R&R anymore lol.


End file.
